We have seen many images of many gods whilst in India. Our guide at the Taj Mahal told me they prayed to several thousand gods. Or more. Which gives opportunity to speak about the one true God. I tell him, “I pray to just one God”. He shows little interest. I add, “And He answers me”. Our guide slows down, and looks at me. So I tell him our God works miracles – and now he is interested. I tell him about a boy aged 10 with a deformed arm full of metalwork that Jesus restored when Wendy and I prayed over it. “Is that true?” he asks. I assure him that I would not lie.
Two days later, as I progressed through the book of psalms, I came to number 135. Concerning idols, I read – ‘They have mouths, but cannot speak. They have eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear. There is no breath in their mouths’, Psalm 135:16,17. They are dead. They never lived. They are stone. They are wood. They are images. They are icons. They keep people from the truth.
So we are praying for those who take the liberating truth of the gospel to the nations, and just now, India, where we pitch in with our seemingly innocuous word of witness. But wait – ‘the word of God is living and active’, powerful, never returning void, alive, spirit and life. (Hebrews 4:12. Isaiah 55: 11. John 6:63). May our words be anointed and accomplish more than we could have believed.
